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Daily Readings for Tuesday, August 7, 2018

1 Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind. 2 They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts, 4 those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail;
our lips are our own — who is our master?”

5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,” says the LORD;
“I will place them in the safety for which they long.” 6 The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever. 8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.

Morning Psalm 146

1 Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.

5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God, 6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free; 8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD!

First Reading Judges 7:1-18

1Then Jerubbaal (that
is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose
early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the
camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of
Moreh, in the valley.

2The LORD said to
Gideon, "The troops with you are too many for me to
give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only
take the credit away from me, saying, 'My own hand
has delivered me.' 3Now therefore proclaim this in the
hearing of the troops, 'Whoever is fearful and
trembling, let him return home.'" Thus Gideon
sifted them out; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten
thousand remained.

4Then the LORD said to
Gideon, "The troops are still too many; take them
down to the water and I will sift them out for you there.
When I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he
shall go with you; and when I say, 'This one shall
not go with you,' he shall not go." 5So he brought the troops down to
the water; and the LORD said to Gideon, "All those
who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you
shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink,
putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the
other side." 6The
number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all
the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water.
7Then the LORD said to
Gideon, "With the three hundred that lapped I will
deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let
all the others go to their homes." 8So he took the jars of the troops
from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the
rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the
three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the
valley.

9That same night the
LORD said to him, "Get up, attack the camp; for I
have given it into your hand. 10But if you fear to attack, go
down to the camp with your servant Purah; 11and you shall hear what they say,
and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to attack
the camp." Then he went down with his servant Purah
to the outposts of the armed men that were in the camp.
12The Midianites and
the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along
the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels were
without number, countless as the sand on the seashore.
13When Gideon arrived,
there was a man telling a dream to his comrade; and he
said, "I had a dream, and in it a cake of barley
bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the
tent, and struck it so that it fell; it turned upside
down, and the tent collapsed." 14And his comrade answered,
"This is no other than the sword of Gideon son of
Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand God has given
Midian and all the army."

15When Gideon heard the
telling of the dream and its interpretation, he
worshiped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and
said, "Get up; for the LORD has given the army of
Midian into your hand." 16After he divided the three
hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into
the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches
inside the jars, 17he
said to them, "Look at me, and do the same; when I
come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
18When I blow the
trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow
the trumpets around the whole camp, and shout, 'For
the LORD and for Gideon!'"

Second Reading Acts 3:1-11

1One day Peter and John
were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at
three o'clock in the afternoon. 2And a man lame from birth was
being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate
of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could
ask for alms from those entering the temple. 3When he saw Peter and John about
to go into the temple, he asked them for alms.
4Peter looked intently
at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us."
5And he fixed his
attention on them, expecting to receive something from
them. 6But Peter said,
"I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give
you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up
and walk." 7And he
took him by the right hand and raised him up; and
immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
8Jumping up, he stood
and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them,
walking and leaping and praising God. 9All the people saw him walking and
praising God, 10and
they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask
for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they
were filled with wonder and amazement at what had
happened to him. 11While he clung to Peter and John,
all the people ran together to them in the portico called
Solomon's Portico, utterly astonished.

Gospel Reading John 1:19-28

19This is the testimony
given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
20He confessed and did
not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the
Messiah." 21And
they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He
said, "I am not."

"Are you the prophet?" He answered,
"No." 22Then
they said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an
answer for those who sent us. What do you say about
yourself?" 23He
said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the
Lord,'" as the prophet Isaiah said. 24Now they had been sent from the
Pharisees. 25They asked
him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither
the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?"
26John answered them,
"I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you
do not know, 27the one
who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the
thong of his sandal." 28This took place in Bethany across
the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Evening Psalm 36

1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in their hearts;
there is no fear of God
before their eyes. 2 For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated. 3 The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
they have ceased to act wisely and do good. 4 They plot mischief while on their beds;
they are set on a way that is not good;
they do not reject evil.

5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds. 6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgments are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights. 9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart! 11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
or the hand of the wicked drive me away. 12 There the evildoers lie prostrate;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Evening Psalm 7

1 O LORD my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me, 2 or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

3 O LORD my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause, 5 then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust. Selah

6 Rise up, O LORD, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
and over it take your seat on high. 8 The LORD judges the peoples;
judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.

9 O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God. 10 God is my shield,
who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge,
and a God who has indignation every day.

12 If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow; 13 he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts. 14 See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies. 15 They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made. 16 Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.

17 I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,
and sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.